Balanced Attack Guides Bulldogs to Sweep of Fairfield

Laurel Casey. (photo by Sam Rubin '95, Yale Sports Publicity)

Sep 05, 2009

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Nine different players
recorded at least one kill for the Yale volleyball team on Saturday
afternoon en route to a clean of the visiting Fairfield Stags on
day two of the 2009 Yale Invitational. Sophomore Bridget Hearst was
the lone Bulldogs to reach double figures with 11 finishers as the
home team took the match by scores of 25-22, 25-15, 25-15.

With the win, the Bulldogs move to 2-0 on the young season. The
Stags fall to 2-3 in defeat.

“I thought we played at a very high level today,” said
Yale Head Coach Erin Appleman.

Hearst’s 11 kills came on 22 swings, with the just three
errors, for a .364 hitting percentage. Senior Cat Dailey slammed
eight kills at a .412 clip and added five digs. Junior Kelly
Ozurovich fronted the defensive effort with 10 digs in a match that
saw eight Bulldogs notch four or more digs. Sophomore Laurel Casey
recorded nine digs in three sets of work, including one at libero.
Sophomore Taylor Cramm led the Bulldogs, who out-blocked the Stags,
7-2, with four blocks. Freshman Kerry Clavadetscher saw most the
action at setter in her collegiate debut and led all players with
22 assists. Sophomore Katie Cordell had three kills on five
errorless swings as well as two assists, an ace and four digs.

“Kerry did a fantastic job of distributing the ball and
keeping everybody involved,” said Appleman. “And Katie
Cordell turned in a great performance in every aspect of the
game.”

The Bulldogs outhit Fairfield .308 (37-9-91) to .106 (32-20-113)
and notched six aces compared to two by the Stags.

Yale got out to a quick start in the opening set, piling up the
first four points of the match behind the tough serving of senior
Alexis Crusey. The Stags hung tough to prevent any more long runs
by the Bulldogs, but would only put together consecutive points on
one occasion in a stretch that saw Yale jump out to a 20-10 lead,
its largest of the set. Fairfield would put together a seven-point
run to close the gap and force a Yale timeout at 22-17, but the
Bulldogs lead proved insurmountable as they claimed set one by a
score of 25-22.

The Bulldogs hit .179 (12-5-39) in the frame as compared to a .070
(11-8-43) clip for the Stags. Yale out-blocked its opponent by a
3-1 margin for the set.

After dropping the first point of the second set, the Bulldogs
rattled off seven straight points, a stretch that featured three
kills from Crusey, to claim a 7-1 lead. Yale put together another
run of six points later in the set, while the Stags never came
closer than within five points of the Bulldogs as the set wrapped
up, 25-15.
Yale hit a scorching .364 (15-3-33) in the set while Fairfield
could only muster a .098 (10-6-41) average. All three blocks in the
frame came from the home squad.

After the Stags took three of the first four points in set three,
Yale strung together a four-point to grab a 5-3 lead and never
looked back. A pair of 6-0 runs pushed the lead to double-figures
at 20-10, and the two squads shared the final 10 points of the
frame as the Bulldogs took the match with a 25-15 set three
victory.

Yale swung with an even greater proficiency in set three, hitting
.474 (10-1-19) while the Stags tallied a .172 percentage (11-6-29).
Each team tallied a block in the set.

Fairfield’s Brianna Dixion led all players with 12 kills and
added 10 digs for a double-double. Kara Reis also notched 10 digs
for the Stags, and Lauren Balmert tallied 19 assists.

Earlier in the day, Colorado defeated Georgetown, 3-1, to move to
2-0 at the Yale Invitational. The 7 p.m. match between the Bulldogs
and Buffaloes will determine the 2009 Yale Invitational Champion.
Georgetown and Fairfield will square off to open the evening
session at 5 p.m.